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	More than half of internet users book their holidays directly online - new research conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings on behalf of marketing agency Harvest Digital and pan-European advertising network Adviva - reveals. December, IAB

	UK internet retail sales reached the £3billion total in one month for the first time in November according to IMRG figures Dec 18, Netimperative

Member company news

	A new global site targeting advertisers has been launched by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions to promote its newly formed network. Along with offering information on MSN, Windows Live, Live Search and Microsoft Office Online, the site will also provide advertisers with audience data and ad format information. Dec 19

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Hopefully you are all safely ensconsed within 2007 and the new year is treating you kindly?

December 2006 already feels like a lifetime ago, but here are the industry stories that were making the news in the lead up to the festive break.

Also, our first comment piece of 2007 looks at the pressing issue of the internet marketing skills shortage that could threaten the future growth of online. Never fear, the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one in the first place! You can have your say on the issue on the IAB website.

Kind regards



Guy Phillipson
IAB, CEO

Is the skills shortage the biggest threat facing the future of online? As the online industry continues to enjoy phenomenal growth we look at the strain being placed on its infastructure and the potential solutions to the problem Get the full story on the IAB website

Social media

The man is not for flipping Mark Zuckerberg, the 22 year-old founder of Facebook has turned down a $1 billion offer from Yahoo! for his influential social networking website. With 13million users, Facebook is now the 7th busiest site on the internet. Dec 17 For more on Facebook, please visit the Times online Daily Telegraph online announces your 4 weddings and a funeral The Daily Telegraph plans to launch a social networking site where users will be able to announce marriages, births and deaths. You will be able to upload text and photos to the site and other readers can leave comments and messages. The Telegraph claims it is the first paper to introduce an online facility for their births, deaths and marriage announcements. Dec 13 For more on the Daily Telegraph's social networking site, please visit the Media Guardian (registration required) Google's most searched for of 2006 What do you think the most searched for terms of 2006 using Google's search engine were? The World Cup? Paris Hilton maybe? In actual fact and cementing 2006 as the year of community websites, the answer is Bebo and MySpace. Incidentally the World Cup was third and Paris Hilton bizarrely topped the news searches, bless her! Dec 18 The BBC has more on Google's most searched for terms of 2006

Entertainment

Music

EMI and Last.fm set to expand your music library Music search engine Last.fm has joined forces with EMI to create tuneglue-audiomap, an online music recommendation service. Tuneglue-audiomap aims to accurately match other listeners new music preferences to another users favourite bands and artists. Dec 15 For more on on the Last.fm/ EMI deal, please visit Revolution Hang the DJ as Xfm listeners take control Xfm has launched an online service called Mi-Xfm that allows listeners to hear the station's music uninterrupted without advertising or DJs. Playlists will also be able to be created from the Xfm music library. GCap will extend the model to its other stations, like Capital Radio if Mi-Xfm proves popular. Dec 12 The Media Guardian has more on the Mi-Xfm initiative (registration required) Gnarls Barkley the most downloaded of 2006 Considering it was the first song to reach number 1 in the singles charts on downloads alone, it is not a surprise to hear that Gnarls Barkley's Crazy has been named the most downloaded song of 2006. Downloads are set to have an even bigger say on the singles chart in 2007. More on this next month! Dec 12 For more on the most popular downloads of 2006 visit the Media Guardian (registration required)

Mobile

Job, car and property adverts on your mobile, asap Mobile phone users will soon be able to access job, car and property adverts on their handsets thanks to a new service called asap mobi. Users select what they are looking for from drop down menus and matching results are located from the service's database. Dec 18 Netimperative has more on asap mobi Napster Mobile launches in Ireland Napster struck a deal with Telefonica's O2 mobile network to launch its first European mobile download service in December, initially to the Irish market. Napster Mobile will run in conjunction with Ericsson and will provide access to Napster's catalogue of more than 3million songs, images and ringtones. Dec 12 Read more on Napster Mobile on the Media Guardian (registration required)

ipTV

Channel 4 eyes Venetian Project Channel 4 has met with Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, the entrepreneurs behind Skype and Kazaa, and may be supplying content for their internet TV service due for launch later this year. The internet telephony billionaires have codenamed the broadband TV service 'Project Venice' and Channel 4 announced in December they were in talks to supply content for it through their 4oD platform. Dec 18 For more on Channel 4's involvement with Project Venice visit the Times Online

Online Creative

Online campaigns

The Salvation Army got online for Christmas The Salvation Army worked with Harvest Digital to launch its first online campaign to drive Christmas appeal donations. A mix of search, display and affiliate advertising was created, driving traffic to The Salvation Army Christmas Appeal landing page where users could choose to donate towards a range of gifts. Dec 21 Netimperative has more on the Salvation Army campaign

Viral

'Santa's yule lob' hits the spot The viral Christmas game from Millets was one of many doing the rounds in December, but 'Santa's Yule Lob' was more successful than most. The game from agency DNX was played more than 17,000 times in four days, with a third of those playing adding their names to the Millets opt-in database. A stat that either highlights how successful the game was, or how unproductive we all were in the lead up to the Christmas break. Dec 12 For more on 'Santa's yule lob' visit Revolution

Online awards, events and polls

The winner of November's Creative Showcase Awards was glue London's launch campaign for the MINI R56. The rich media, interactive campaign has a distinct MINI tone of voice and uses a series of online ads to announce the arrival of the new model by demonstrating its acceleration in one execution and inviting the user to compete against the power of the new MINI by 'pulling' on a rope in another execution.

on 25 January 2007 we will be holding our annual Grand Prix event, where we'll be announcing the Best Creative Campaign 2006, judged from the 12 monthly winners. You can visit the official Creative Showcase site for further details.

IAB to present Internet Communications prize at the 2007 ISP Awards The IAB will be presenting the Internet Communications Award at the 2007 Institute of Sales Promotion (ISP) Awards. We are also pleased to announce that all IAB members can enter the awards for a discounted amount. The closing date for entries is January 26. The ISP Awards are media neutral and recognise and reward sales promotion campaigns implemented across the whole spectrum of marcoms including Digital and Interactive Media. For more information on how to submit, please visit the IAB website

Book, bin, or bonkers? Vote, recommend and share digital creative A new initiative from Yahoo! has taken the quest to share internet creative one step further. As partners of the D&AD Global Awards 2007 Digital sector, Yahoo! has created a unique micro site, bookbinbonkers.com that allows users to vote, recommend and share the digital creative they want entered into the D&AD Global Awards 2007. From the 13 November 2006, users will be able to visit the site and rate all the submitted digital work according to three categories; Book, Bin or Bonkers. The 'Book' category is for inspiring work well executed, 'Bin' for those that just don't make the grade and 'Bonkers' for those that are a little off the wall! For more please visit the IAB website

Westminster eForum Keynote Seminar: New media advertising 24th January 2007, Lewis Media Centre, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4RS This timely meeting will bring together key stakeholders with policy makers to discuss the future of new media advertising. With changes in both consumer attitudes towards advertising, and usage patterns for the traditional forms of media, sessions will examine: changing relationships with the consumer; winners and losers in ad revenue; and regulation of new markets. For more information, please email Katie Osgood, or visit our website.

Visit bannerblog to view a gallery of all the latest online creative

Search

Top 10 Pay Per Click Resolutions not to break 2007 On Netimperative in December Daniel Jupp, Founder and Managing Director of pay per click consultancy, Top Position suggested 10 ways to get the most out of PPC search campaigns in 2007. Make sure your PPC search campaign starts the new year in the best possible shape. Dec For 10 PPC resolutions, please visit the Revolution website If this is your first Click-thru and you would like to see what you have been missing, or if you would like to revisit past stories, please visit our newsletter archive in the members' area on the IAB website.